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THE POLITICS OF POP CULTURETHE BIRTH OF A STAR - Josiah Leming
Posted February 12th, 2008 in All, Celebrities, Entertainment, Entertainment News, Music and TV Moment of the WeakIf you live in the eastern half of the United States, you’ve likely just been introduced to a young man named Josiah Leming via ratings kraken American Idol. Josiah doesn’t consider himself homeless, though he lives out of his car. He isn’t campaigning a cause, though any cause will soon be happy to have him. What he is doing is bringing music, real music, to a stage which over the past six seasons has produced several singers, but few - if any - true artists. Season 7, which from the sound of things has more talent than the past seasons combined, has finally hit the jackpot.
It is my personal opinion that only a travesty of justice could keep Leming from running away with the win. His sound is reminiscent of a young John Lennon, but he has shown vulnerability, particularly in temperament. He overconfidently dismissed the band during his last audition before the final cut and sings with a oddly British-sounding accent (though as someone who uses the word “git” on a regular basis I am a bit loathe to judge). On the other hand, he is living under a roof for the first time in who knows how many years, he is sleep deprived, he is in a cutthroat competition, and he is barely out of the cradle. Likely the best thing that could happen to him is to be cut by the judges right now, thus freeing him to sign on with any damn label he chooses.
The producers aren’t likely to let him go, though, and for the sake of conflict they’ll probably do their best to get him to act out, and I expect he’ll be quick oblige them. He may tip his winning hand to one of several males or females likely to give him a run for his money, especially if he doesn’t learn to filter his thoughts. After all, video killed the radio star, and the fact that his experimental stage will be nationally televised may hurt him. Either way though, it’s just a matter of time before he hits a studio, and his won’t be the only life that changes.
When his performance from tonight hits the web we’ll post it. Until then, here’s a little home video:
Mardi Gras v. Jazz Fest - How To Start A Year Off Right
Posted January 26th, 2008 in All, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Entertainment News, Inside New Orleans, Music and Sports 
Norah Jones entertains crowds at Jazz Fest.

It’s that time of year again! New Orleans is gearing up for its most unique celebration of the things that make life worth living (you know, once the Saints are out for the season). The LSU Tigers began the festivities early this year, taking over where the Saints left off by scoring an unusually undisputed BCS National Championship. Just to add a little spice to the festivities, the Tigers also proudly point out that this year’s Superbowl XLII in Phoenix will sport five former LSU football players - the most of any any NCAA school. Lord knows this city knows how to start a year off right….
For New Orleanians (and some intrepid touristas), Mardi Gras arrives just in time to take the sting out of the end of football season. Despite some recent rainy weather, parades and partymongers are already in full swing. Regardless of what mother nature has in store, the merrymaking will continue to build momentum past the Superbowl on February 3rd, right up until the big bash on Fat Tuesday rolls around February 5th. As always, Fat Tuesday will be heralded bright and early by Zulu and Rex, the kings of the Mardi Gras parades. (If you ever wondered why the revelry starts early and ends promptly at midnight, it’s because Ash Wednesday begins at 12:01 a.m. - the harbinger of the season of Lent; Carnivale festivities were originally designed to get all the debauchery out of Christian systems before the traditional Lenten sacrifices began.)

Not to be outdone by one little month-long shindig, Jazz Fest follows the season of Lent with a musical melee starring the best and brightest of both popular and independent music from around the globe. For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, Jazz Fest will be rolling out its traditional seven day format (over two weekends) starting April 25. Paste magazine offers a review of the heightened expectations for this year’s musical all-star lineup, which includes Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Santana, Sheryl Crow, Widespread Panic, The Neville Brothers, John Prine, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, Randy Newman, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Raconteurs, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, O.A.R., Galactic, Tower of Power, Cowboy Mouth, Bettye LaVette, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dr. John, Keyshia Cole, Diana Krall, Irma Thomas, Al Green and thousands more (check out the full schedule here). The annual battle of the bands is virtually guaranteed to have something for everyone (you haven’t experienced true rapture until you’ve seen Cowboy Mouth perform live in their home town). The biggest conundrum of the season is which stage to hit first. So grab your tickets early, head on down South, and Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet!

Screw Randy Jackson, Nicholas Payton can blow!
EXPANDING THE CONCEPT OF ART - Protest As Tradition
Posted November 22nd, 2007 in Activism, All, Entertainment, Expanding the concept of "Art", Music and Politics
Singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie is responsible for what could be considered the longest running protest in U. S. history. A child of the Vietnam War era, Guthrie recorded Alice’s Restaurant as a comedic protest against the draft. The song runs 18 minutes and 20 seconds long, and as such it is rarely played on radio stations. The exception is Thanksgiving Day, when radio stations across the country play the song once in its entirety, in the spirit of gratitude for freedom of speech. Today we urge you to do the same. Due to request that the video not be embedded, we’ll direct you to the link instead.
1 2 3 4 Play That Song By Feist Some More
Posted October 16th, 2007 in All, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Entertainment News, Music and Take a look...I’ll admit it. I’m part of the problem. I’m one of the uber-thousands who hums a little and pretends to dance along with that chick in the bright blue catsuit rockin’ the empty warehouse on that iPod Nano commercial. I can’t help it. She looks like Liv Tyler and sounds like Aimee Mann on a solid course of extremely effective anti-depressants.
So I decided to nose out the identity of this pepper-pop indie rocker in the awesomely sliver high heels who’s swinging through the singles charts up around the top 10 and causing me to share headphones with “the man.” Well that’d be Leslie Feist - known to her fans and iPod audiences simply as Feist. A Canadian songstress with roots in punk and fingers in lots of musical pies, Feist has rocketed to the top of the charts with the little ditty 1 2 3 4, one of several of her singles currently being featured in major marketing campaigns for companies like HBO, Urban Outfitters, eBay, and of course Apple. All companies targeting the younger, more pop-culturally sophisticated crowds, if such a paradox exists - and finance departments say it does. Successfully swooping consumers from clothes to music to the silver (or HD) screen has become the marketing ploy of choice for companies hoping that the youth of the technologically advanced world will spend some disposable income on their particular contribution to flashy fashion trends. And they will.
But if there’s one consolation in accepting that the marketing divisions of the top trendsetters have our consumer-number, it’s that they are, at the very least, setting the trends more or less right. For the most part, these companies have made a conscious effort to depart from the washed up sales model of trying to sell audiences on the product (if I see one more commercial insisting that the newest advances in toilet bowl cleaners will bring me to a spontaneous climax I might actually technicolor upchuck), and have instead turned their focus toward trying to produce something that consumers will actually appreciate - like flashy gadgets that make lovely music at the touch of an iButton and sales websites that students can afford to frequent. With the threat of consumer disinterest removed from their collective shoulders, these companies are free to go to extraordinary creative lengths to support their own consumer boom. Though the instant success of the dot-com era is a thing of the past, a good, solid luxury product is currently fighting a downhill battle to find its maximum market. EBay fills consumer pockets with iPods, which require interaction with associated internet sites, which feature music from Feist, who hocks eBay and iPods. So the consumerist ouroboros continues to swallow its own tail; but at the very least it is one splendidly well-dressed serpent.
Meanwhile Feist is one of the lucky pop culture soup surfers who gets to ride the market wave all the way to the top. Fame and fortune for her are imminent, if not recent arrivals. So we feel we can safely blame the system for leaping shamelessly onto the passing bandwagon and sharing the info. She has added a significant number of dates to her current Canadian tour, and will be the featured Saturday Night Live musical guest on November 3, with host Brian Williams.

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